Chicago's Mortgage Choice - October 27, 2015 Real Estate Trends - Actions and Words Revisited

2015 has been an exciting time for the markets when meetings of the Federal Reserve Board's Open Marketing Committee occur. When the markets get excited, stocks, rates and more all seem to get more volatile. The interesting thing about all of this is that the Fed has not done much this year. They have discussed raising rates and said they were going to raise rates, but they haven't. And that is why we keep saying that the Fed's words are so important. As a matter of fact, the release of the minutes of the Fed meetings a few weeks after the meeting are just as entertaining as the meeting itself. For the most part, the markets are expecting no action again this week. There is no meeting in November and that means that if the Fed does not raise rates, they have only one last meeting in December to fulfil their prediction of a rate increase in 2015. However, that prediction does not make an increase a certainty. The Fed's words always leave them an alternative path. This is why the economic data released this week and next will be so important even though it comes after the Fed meeting. This week we have readings on new home sales, economic growth for the third quarter and personal income and spending. Next week we have the employment report. This data will carry more weight with regard to the Federal Reserve's next move than the Fed's words. After all, aren't actions supposed to speak louder than words? This data is real economic action. Keith Stewart 773-529-7000